There are many door closer mechanisms presently existing of the type wherein a cylindrical casing houses a piston which is laterally movable within a bore. In door closers of this type, a spring within the casing biases the piston towards one end of the cylinder and attempts to keep the door in a closed position. The piston and cylinder are connected respectively to a door and door frame so that when the door is opened, the piston is pushed in a direction to compress the spring. When the door is released, the spring causes the piston and rod to move the door back to a closed postion. Many door closers of this type are presently in existence in which no means is provided to keep the door in an open position without the person opening the door holding it with their hand or foot.
There are many instances in which the user of the door may wish to hold the door temporarily in an open position such as when he is carrying packages. While door closing mechanisms presently exist which do have means to hold the door in an open position, applicants' invention is designed to be added to an existing door closure which does not have such a means attached so that the door closure does not have to be completely replaced, with one that has the door hold-open feature.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved door closer and door holder which conveniently and easily both closes the door and provides means to hold the door in an open position, if desired.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a mechanism which can be added to an existing door closing mechanism which does not have a door hold-open feature so that the door can be held open if desired.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a convenient and cheap method for modifying existing door closures so that they are given a hold-open ability.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a simple self-contained door closure and holder which both closes the door automatically and provides a means to hold the door open if desired by the user.